by David-Elijah Nahmod

Castro area residents concerned about violent crime in the
neighborhood packed a recent community meeting where they heard from the police
chief and district attorney.

While the Castro has an active neighborhood watch program
called Castro Community on Patrol, a number of attendees at the July 31 meeting
at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center said that they did not know about
established safety zones, which is part of a program started years ago by the
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence that CCOP has helped resurrect.

Sister Pat N Leather, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual
Indulgence, held up one of the familiar window placards, in which the words "Stop
the Violence: Stop Hate" frame a prominent pink triangle.

"If you see this sign in the window of a home or
business, you can approach that location and ask for help," said Leather.
She also urged residents to wear a whistle.

"A whistle can save your life," she added.

Some people at the meeting had thought that the signs were
meant to raise community awareness and make a general statement. Throughout the
two-hour meeting, the importance of knowledge, awareness, and working together
was emphasized.

Mark Mosher, who lives on Collingwood Street, suggested that
cameras on the street could identify the perpetrators.

"You could pay for it with the proceeds you'd raise
from the reality series you could produce from the footage," he said, as
the crowd laughed. "They're doing crystal meth in full view of the
school."

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, San Francisco
Police Department Captain Robert Moser of Mission Station, and gay Supervisor
Scott Wiener addressed concerns and spoke about what was being done to bring
things under control.

"We're putting plainclothes officers by the park,"
said Moser, who told people they could email him directly to address specific
concerns at bob.moser@sfgov.org.

"You can cc me on the email, and I'll call Bob and ask if
he got it," said Police Chief Greg Suhr (greg.suhr@sfgov.org).

Many people called for better lighting on neighborhood
streets. "We've gotten funding for streetlamps," said Wiener. "Then
others go to war against them because they think it's too much lighting."

Wiener also addressed several incidents of violence during
recent Pink Saturday celebrations, praising the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
for all their hard work in organizing Pink Saturday, as well as for their
anti-violence work.

"Less than 10 percent of Pink Saturday attendees donate
to the event," Wiener noted.
Another speaker suggested that a mandatory donation might
help in keeping troublemakers away.

Wiener also talked about the controversial decision to
remove the benches from Harvey Milk Plaza at Castro and Market streets.

"It was getting out of hand," he said, referring
to incidents of hard drug use, threats of violence amid aggressive panhandling,
urinating and defecating, and even incidents of anti-gay hate speech that were
coming from those who were congregating in the plaza.

However, residents were upset about the overall incidents of
violence in the area.

"I know of six people in the past five weeks who were
attacked," said James Littau. "The numbers being reported are very
low based on what's been going on, and there's no police presence in the
neighborhood."

Others noted that calls to the police non-emergency line
were ignored, or that they had to endure long waits when they called 911.

"I live at Sanchez and 20th," said a man named
Steve. "I could be stabbed to death in front of my house, and the non-emergency
line does nothing."

Leather, of the Sisters, urged residents to get involved
with CCOP. The neighborhood watch organization was founded in 2006 in response
to several well-publicized assaults around the Castro. Working in conjunction
with local law enforcement, CCOP trains volunteers to keep an eye on the
neighborhood and to report crime. It receives a small annual grant from the
city and is fiscally managed by Safety Awareness for Everyone.

SAFE representative Trey Sanders noted that there was a
great deal of unreported crime and urged people to contact the Victim's
Services department of the DA's office. Sanders said that SAFE could be
contacted by calling (415) 553-1966.

Gascón informed the crowd that that his office had indeed
prosecuted many cases, citing a number of recent arrests.

"My office is fully committed to going after the people
who are victimizing this community," he said. "Arrests in the Mission
are up 50 percent, but we all have to work together."

He said electronic devices such as cellphones and tablets
are often the incentive in property crimes.

"Be aware of your surroundings when you use these
devices," Gascón said.

Gascón spoke briefly of new technologies being developed by
Apple that would make it easier to track stolen devices, or shut them down when
they're stolen.

"We have to remove the incentive to take them," he
said.

Wiener said that many of the crimes were quite brazen, and
occurred during both daytime and nighttime hours. Many of the incidents
involved guns.

"We have 300 less police officers on the force,"
he said. "The policy-makers at City Hall didn't fund police academy
classes."

Wiener noted in a recent opinion piece in the Bay Area
Reporter that police academy classes are
now being funded.